MIT App Inventor in the news

The transition from the prior java based AI1 version to AI2 is now official; MIT is disabling AI1 effective July 15, so grab your stuff now and check out converting what you can from AI1 to AI2 using this FAQ link. I've been busy manually converting projects over and doing so gave me an up close and personal understanding of the new and improved ways of AI2. If you have a favorite AI1 project and don't make the July 15th cut off, consider checking out my wiki (acdojo/acdojo credentials >pages and files, search for ".aia" or ".apk"); I've archived code "recipes" from AI1 and class projects from past SEP sessions. In general, you'll find in AI2 major changes in how variables and procedures operate and additional "relational" programming options in the "text" category, such as "join" to create list-picker apps (see "map tour" tutorial in AI2).

My summer goal to develop an AI2 app to publish to Google Play is well under way! I just roughed out a beta version and downloaded the apk file to my android phone onto my SD card so I can play it and send to beta testers (aka, my friends!). The purpose of beta testing is to put the app to work and get feedback about how to improve and also, to test it's reliability over lots and lots of use. I've uploaded the file to the wiki (AI2_F2T_MapTour_copyV2.apk), so feel free to download it to your computer, then send it to your android phone via email (sorry, android only for now), and save to your phone's SD card. I recommend downloading an operating system manger to your phone (I use free File Expert, FE) so you'll be able to easily find your download and play the app outside of the AI2 designer/code editor. In a nutshell, my project is a map tour/pong app mashup, meaning I created a 2 screen application using MIT AI2 code recipes (snippets) to make a app that tells you where local Charlottesville small farm growers sell their goods to restaurants and local groceries programmed using a Google Map API call. Then, I added a "tie-in", a cow pie pong game. In real life, you'll see apps that do this, where the screen 1 is free, and to get the game tie-in, for a small fee, users can upgrade to get the game, too. In my case, it's all going to be free, but a nice way to demonstrate the business of app building.

I'll keep my project in it's beta phase for a couple of months, so check back to hear more about this process! After I feel pretty good tweaking it from user feedback, then I'll move on to the actual publish to Google Play process next ...